Exercise is a very important activity for modern people, especially for those whose work requires sitting in office for most of time daily. Exercise machines become more and more popular for families. However, what mainly hinders people from doing enough exercise is the competition from entertainment and work. People tend to put more time on work for career advancement and often occupy the time originally planned for exercise. After daily work, people usually get tired, both physically and psychologically, and need some entertainment to get psychological relaxation which can not be obtained from exercise. Once start getting entertainment, more time tends to be consumed than expected. As a result, users of exercise machines often find themselves using those machines less and less since the purchase.
Many users find exercise machines, such as treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bicycles, monotonous and lose interest after a period. These exercise machines do not offer the psychological satisfaction which outdoor runners usually get from running in new locations away from somewhere familiar. Many outdoor runners enjoy the natural beauty outside and the challenges of making longer distance associated with real scenery. Such stimulation is very difficult to be obtained from common exercise machines. Therefore, many users try to watch TV or listen to music while using exercise machines. However, TV programs are not specifically designed for exercise and different contents results the strength of motivation varying from time to time. Also, the stimulation of music can not last for a long time.
An effective way to solve these issues is combination of a personal computer with an exercise machine, so that exercise can be effectively incorporated with work and flexible entertainment. Virtual reality simulations or video games can generate virtual reality environment and apply exercise movement data to create interactive entertainment, therefore, help to gain both physical exercise and psychological relaxation at the same time. People can also effectively use their time by doing work with personal computers while doing exercise. Therefore, great amount of motivation and benefits can be created with the computer and exercise machine combination.
U.S. Pat. No. 2007/0287597 A1 issued to Cameron discloses a multi-purpose exercise equipment which is able to access internet and do work via a computer system while doing exercise. The exercise equipment is a combination of a computer and a stationary bicycle. However, such system will be much more expensive than a common stationary bicycle. The computer system on the exercise equipment could also be used by many other people, especially in a gym, so it can not be as convenient as a personal computer to maintain exercise data, personal files and do personal work. Moreover, the invention is limited on only stationary bicycles. Many people may prefer other types of exercise machines, such as treadmills and elliptical equipments.
U.S. Pat. No. 2008/0096745 A1 issued to Perry describes a combination office and exercise work station having a desk component, an exercise component and a torso support. This invention provides a solution for working and exercising at the same time. U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,701 issued to Edelson describes a collapsible desk with unique height adjustment features which allow user to change positions and exercise while working. However, the exercise equipment with a desk configuration is more of office equipment than sport equipment. This kind of equipments can not efficiently solve the distraction issue caused by upper body movements during exercise. With these equipments, only treadmill type of exercise components are acceptable and people can only do walking with them, in order to minimize body movement and maintain a fair working efficiency. They are not suitable for those who want to have an intensive exercise or want to use elliptical machines. Some people go to gyms for a motivating environment with many people doing exercise together and may prefer using a common simple console for an intensive exercise. For intensive exercise, people usually can't do complicated computer operation. For the same reason and appearance limitation, this kind of exercise machines is not suitable in gyms. After all, not all customers will bring laptops with them when go to gyms.
There are other prior arts, such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,335,147 B2 issued to Jones et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 2006/0258513 A1 issued to Routley et al., disclose laptop trays or holders that can be mounted to exercise machines and allow people to use laptop computers. However, the trays or holders are extra parts and may not able to be mounted properly for certain designs of exercise machines. Also this type of equipments relies too much on the stability of the exercise machines they are mounted to, and are generally shaky and unstable to hold laptops during exercise. There will be distractions caused by both vibration and shaking of laptop and moving of human body during exercise. As a result, it is difficult to focus on the work using laptops.
Furthermore, for standing exercise machines, people will get tired in a relatively short time, this is not ideal because working and entertainment can easily take hours. For this issue, none of prior arts can provide an effective solution.
In summary, a successful combination of a computer with an exercise machine for improving exercise motivation needs to meet multiple demands: 1) effectively work with personal exercise data, personal work and personal preferred entertainment; 2) satisfy both intensive exercise and moderate exercise. 3) suitable for both families and gyms; 4) minimize vibration and shaking of computer and upper body movements, so that user can work with the computer without distraction; 5) applicable for different types of exercise machines, such as treadmills, elliptical machines and stationery bicycles; 6) capable of decreasing loads for standing exercise machines, so that people can exercise longer with working and entertainment at the same time. The present invention will effectively cover all these features.